Evodiamine induces caspase-dependent apoptosis and S phase arrest in human colon lovo cells.

Evodiamine, one of the major bioactive components derived from Wu-Chu-Yu, a long-standing Chinese herb, was reported to possess anticancer activity. In this study, we investigated the in-vitro and in-vivo anticancer effects of evodiamine on human colon lovo cells and their potential mechanisms. The 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay showed that the in-vitro proliferation of lovo cells was inhibited by evodiamine of various concentrations. Flow cytometry showed a time-dependent increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells and cells arrested in the S phase after treatment with 60 micromol/l evodiamine. Western blot indicated that evodiamine treatment decreased the expression of procaspase-8, procaspase-9, and procaspase-3 in lovo cells, accompanied by the activation of caspase-8, caspase-9, and caspase-3. However, the translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor and endonuclease G was not affected by evodiamine. Moreover, western blot assay also suggested that evodiamine-induced S phase arrest in lovo cells was associated with a marked decrease in the protein expression of cyclinA, cyclinA-dependent kinase 2, and cdc25c. In-vivo antineoplastic characteristics of evodiamine were examined in a human colon carcinoma lovo xenograft model and results showed that evodiamine increased the number of TUNEL-positive cells accompanied by the downregulated expression of procaspase-8, procaspase-9, and procaspase-3. In conclusion, these findings indicated that evodiamine could inhibit the in-vitro and in-vivo proliferation of human colon lovo cells by inducing caspase-dependent apoptosis and S phase arrest.